Misty Belford was asked to respond to the salary issue. We thank her for taking the time to speak to us on this Facebook page. Communication with school board members is key to teachers being able to move forward in this district Misty Haggard-Belford: Ok, thank you for your patience as I explored the legal limitations on my communication regarding this issue. I was concerned that a public response on Facebook may violate the sunshine law as this issue will come to the board for a vote at some point. I also did not want to violate any rules regarding discussion of bargaining issues. As such, my response will necessarily include consideration of staying within the limits of those two issues. Before I respond to your question directly, I would like to make it clear that I cannot speak for other board members, I can only speak for myself. If you would like to ask other board members their position individually, you are welcome to do so. I will happily share that it is one of my highest priorities to ensure that we get as much money back to our faculty and staff as possible and will look for as many opportunities as possible to do so. Part of the difficulty with getting support for raises right now for the current school year is that the new dollars are not yet coming into the district from the sales tax or the refinancing at this point. Although companies started collecting the sales tax on January 1, they will not actually pay that sales tax to the state until February 20 (or so). The state will then take its time to process everything and determine what goes where and the district should start receiving funds from the sales tax around April. As you probably know, the sales tax dollars cannot be used for salaries. However, when sales tax money starts coming into the district (in April), that will allow us to stop spending our operating budget on items that should be paid for through the capitol budget. This will, in essence, free up money in the operating budget that can be considered for increases in compensation and benefits. I do believe we all (district leadership) want to be able to provide increases in compensation and benefits and will be working toward that. We will begin budget discussions in the near future and I would anticipate that compensation and benefits would be at the top of the list for the focus of new dollars. It is my understanding that right now, negotiations are scheduled to begin again in May, which would be after the sales tax funds begin to be received.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 00:42:17 +0000
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